Suicide squad attacks Kabul hotel

The Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul is under attack, and there are reports of at least one suicide bomber detonating his explosive vest inside.

Updated at 7:11 p.m. ET: The Associated Press reports that Afghan security forces clearing the hotel worked their way to the roof and "engaged the remaining insurgents," but it doesn't say how many more militants there were.

No official word on other casualties from the attack, which began almost six hours ago. It's 3:41 a.m. Wednesday in Kabul.

Update at 6:59 p.m. ET: NATO says two coalition helicopters have killed three militants on the roof of the hotel.

Update at 6:29 p.m. ET: Five hours after the attack began, Afghan security forces are fighting the militants, a top police officer tells Reuters. "The clearing of the Intercontinental is still going on. It's not over yet," said Mohammad Zahir, the head of the Kabul police crime unit. He said three officers had been wounded in the attack by at least five suicide bombers.

In November 2008, several Islamist militants from Pakistan attacked the Taj Mahal Hotel, a cafe, a train station and a Jewish center in Mumbai, India's biggest city. The militants seized the landmark hotel, setting part of it ablaze. When the siege ended 60 hours later, a total of 174 people, including nine attackers, were dead. Only one attacker survived; he was convicted in May 2010 and sentenced to death.

Update at 5:02 p.m. ET: Kabul's police chief told the BBC that security forces exchanged fire with up to six assailants, while a security official said three suicide bombers had blown themselves up -- one at the hotel's front gate, one on the second floor and one at the back of the hotel.

Power has been cut, and guests have been told to stay in their rooms.

The BBC reiterates earlier, unconfirmed reports that 10 people have died.

Update at 4:54 p.m. ET: Reuters reports there have been four blasts, according to witnesses -- one at the start of the attack, then three more at least an hour later. No official reports of casualties or damage.

Rebutting an earlier CNN report, Afghan officials told Reuters the Intercontinental, one of Kabul's two main hotels, was not being used for a conference on the transition of security or by its delegates.

The Inter-Con is popular with rich Afghans and foreign workers alike. The hotel is built on a hillside and has vast grounds of its own, well away from the center of Kabul. Security at the hotel is usually extremely tight and nighttime attacks inside the city, when roadblocks are erected and frequent checkpoints have to be navigated, are almost unheard of.

The security is considered so good at the hotel on the hill that major press conferences are often held there. Seminars for foreign aid groups and US government organizations like USAID are also held at the hotel from time to time.

The approach up the hotel's long driveway involves zigzagging around concrete barriers, then stopping midway up. Usually, passengers exit the vehicle while police do a sweep of it and pat down the passengers. At the hotel entrance, another security check is done that involves x-ray scanners and a full patdown. Security checks can often be lackadaisical or perfunctory in this part of the world, but rarely, if ever, at the Inter-Con. Its position on a barren hill makes it easier to spot anyone approaching by another route. There will be questions about whether the attackers had inside help.

The Intercontinental attracts top expatriate guests, though it is less tony than the Serena Hotel, which itself has been targeted by assaults and rockets over the years. Such a major attack on a known foreigner haven would appear to be designed to offend the sensibilities of the US, which has begun peace talks with the Taliban.

Update at 4:42 p.m. ET: The U.S.-led military coalition said the Afghan Interior Ministry had not requested any help from foreign forces, Al-Jazeera reports.

Update at 4:17 p.m. ET: A journalist working for the United Arab Emirates-based daily paper The National tells CNN that three Taliban members penetrated the luxury hotel's heavy security and that one bomber detonated his vest on the second floor. Correspondent Erin Cunningham reported that snipers on the roof fired down at Afghan security forces and that rocket-propelled grenades were launched from the roof toward the area of the first vice president's house.

No official word on casualties.

The attack occurred around 10 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET), hours after Lt. Gen. William Caldwell announced that NATO and its allies planned to boost the number of security forces in the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police to 352,000. A news conference was scheduled at the hotel Wednesday to discuss the transition of security to Afghan forces.

Update at 4:11 p.m. ET: AP reporters say that rocket-propelled grenades and tracer rounds could be seen and heard and that bursts of gunfire came from the roof of the five-story building.

Update at 3:53 p.m. ET: Police sources tell Al-Jazeera that six suicide bombers attacked. A police official said "a number" of officers were wounded.

Guests are being evacuated, but some remain inside.

Update at 3:42 p.m. ET: Reuters, citing a police source, said two suicide bombers attacked the hotel and gunfire was heard for several minutes after one explosion. Reuters says the gunfire has tapered off.

A wedding was underway inside the hotel, the source said.

A Taliban spokesman told Reuters that several Islamist fighters attacked the hotel and that heavy casualties had resulted. Afghan and Western officials supposedly were holding security talks. None of those claims has been confirmed.

Update at 3:28 p.m. ET: Afghan police say at least one suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Intercontinental Hotel tonight, the AP reports. There are other reports of multiple attackers.

The Afghan news agency reports 10 dead.

A hotel guest told the AP he could hear gunfire on several floors of the hotel.

Original post: Afghan police say a suicide bomber has struck the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, according to news reports. The Pakistani Taliban reportedly has taken credit for the rare nighttime attack.

No word on casualties or damage to the hotel, which is frequented by Westerners.

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